The present invention pertains to a device for monitoring patients, which is used to detect and process physiological data of a patient, wherein the physiological data are detected by sensors.
Such patient monitoring devices have a terminal associated with a patient, to which one or more sensors for detecting physiological parameters of the patient are to be connected. The terminal receives the electric signals of the sensors and processes same further, e.g., by digitization, calibration and scaling. The sensor data having been subjected to further processing are forwarded from the terminal in steady state to a connected medical workplace, which usually has a display device (e.g., a computer screen) for displaying the patient""s vital functions, and additional data entry and data processing devices in order to provide a display of the patient""s health status. Furthermore, optical and/or acoustic alarm devices, which alert the hospital personnel concerning critical changes in the patient""s status, are usually provided.
Besides the stationary operating state described, in which the terminal is arranged at or near the patient""s bed and is connected to the medical workplace via an electronic network, a nonstationary operating state occurs during the transportation of the patient, in which the terminal is not connected to the medical workplace via the electronic network. To ensure the monitoring of the patient during transportation as well, a small, lightweight and mobile display must be provided, which can be connected to the terminal as a transport display module.
The type of the physiological parameters that must be detected in a given patient changes from one patient to the next depending on the diagnosis and the instantaneous health status. From this arises the requirement that different types of sensors must be able to be connected in order to make it possible to detect the desired parameters of the patient monitored in the particular case. It may also be necessary for this, in principle, to provide additional signal reception components for additional special sensors, which are not provided in the terminal.
The handling of such patient monitoring devices, especially the connection of additional or other sensors, or the connection to a transport display module at the time of a change from the stationary operating state to the nonstationary one, must be simple, on the one hand, and highly reliable and dependable, on the other hand, so that such changes in the patient monitoring device can be performed by the hospital personnel with the often necessary rapidity and at the same time in a highly reliable manner.
A patient monitoring device that permits a stationary operating state and a nonstationary operating state has been known from, e.g., U.S. Pat. No. 4,715,385. The prior-art device has a terminal, which is pushed into the housing of a stationary medical workplace in the stationary operating state. In the nonstationary case, i.e., for the transportation of the patient, the terminal is pulled out of the medical workplace and is pushed into the housing of a transport display module, which is open on one side, and is connected to the transport display module via a cable connection. However, this solution is disadvantageous because the insertion of the terminal into the transport display module as a plug-in module fundamentally limits the possibility of expansion of the terminal and the connection of additional components to the terminal is not possible in a simple and compact manner.
The primary object of the present invention is to provide a patient monitoring device in which the terminal can be connected to a transport display module in a simple and reliable manner and which has a compact design and offers possibilities for connecting additional sensors.
According to the present invention, the patient monitoring device has a terminal, which is designed such that its housing is provided on one side with a connection mechanism for the positive-locking coupling of a transport display module and on another side with a connection mechanism for the positive-locking coupling of an expansion module for receiving signals of additional sensors. Furthermore, electric contacts are provided on the terminal on each connection mechanism, the contacts being designed such that they automatically come in connection with complementary contacts on the transport display module or on the expansion module at the time of coupling of the connection mechanism to establish the electric connection to the terminal.
The transport display module can thus be arranged on the terminal in one step by coupling with the connection mechanism, and the necessary electric connection is established simultaneously with the mechanical coupling. Furthermore, the terminal makes possible the coupling of an expansion module on another side of its housing via a corresponding connection mechanism, the expansion module being used to receive and preliminarily process sensor signals of additional special sensors. The patient monitoring device can thus be coordinated with the configuration needed in the acute situation with special sensors by connecting the suitable expansion modules.
In an advantageous embodiment, the housing of the terminal is designed as a flat component with opposite large-area side faces, at which the connection mechanisms for connecting the transport display module and an expansion module are arranged. The ease of handling and the accessibility are improved by the connection mechanisms being arranged on opposite side faces, so that the connection of the transport display module is not interfered with or hindered by the connection of additional expansion modules.
In another advantageous embodiment, an additional connection mechanism corresponding to that on the terminal may be provided on a first expansion module on a side of this expansion module facing away from the terminal in the coupled position, so that an additional expansion module can be coupled with the first expansion module in exactly the same manner as it is coupled directly with the terminal.
In another preferred embodiment, each connection mechanism is designed with a guide pair comprising a guide support and a complementary guide body such that with the terminal standing upright, the guide pair can be brought into engagement by depositing the transport display module and the expansion module (hereinafter occasionally called together by the generic term xe2x80x9cauxiliary devicexe2x80x9d) downward in the vertical direction. It is achieved as a result that the auxiliary device can be brought into engagement with the terminal by depositing it from the top next to the terminal, which permits simple handling of the devices by the personnel. In another preferred embodiment, the guide pair is designed such that after the insertion of the guide body, a pivotable connection is first established between the auxiliary device and the terminal, the pivot axis being defined by the longitudinal axis of the guide pair, which is horizontal and parallel to the housing faces in the lower area of the auxiliary device. It is achieved as a result that after depositing the auxiliary device on the terminal, while the auxiliary device is initially still being held slightly obliquely in relation to the terminal, the auxiliary device is fully pivoted at the top to the terminal after the engagement of the guide pair and may be locked there.
This may be achieved, e.g., by the guide pair having a groove and a tongue, which engage one another at the time of insertion, wherein the groove is designed as a one-sided undercut in the housing face and the tongue engages the groove from the top during insertion. In this advantageous embodiment, the groove and tongue of the connection mechanism allow for a pivotability around a pivot axis at right angles to the vertical direction of deposition and in parallel to the face of the housing of the terminal. After the insertion of the auxiliary device and engagement of the tongue-and-groove connection, the auxiliary device may be pivoted at the top to the terminal into the coupled position.
To further improve centering, an additional centering pair is advantageously provided for this, which has a conical centering body and a conical centering fit, which extend essentially at right angles to the housing faces and are arranged at widely spaced locations from the pivot axis of the guide pair, so that they are pushed one into the other at the time of pivoting of the auxiliary device onto the terminal into the coupled end position and improve the correct alignment in the end position due to their conical design.
To simplify the handling of the connection mechanism, the guide body and the guide recess are provided with additional guide means such that the auxiliary device to be attached is guided into the correct position during deposition next to the terminal and the groove and tongue are thus guided into engagement with one another on the lower end sides by the guide body and the guide recess. This may be accomplished in a simple manner by, e.g., the guide body being provided with downwardly tapering side walls due to a downwardly increasing projection and by the complementary guide recess being provided with downwardly tapering side walls, so that the connection mechanism is guided by the complementarily conical side faces of the guide and the groove and tongue engage one another.
In another embodiment of the present invention, the device is provided with a carrying device for patient-related use. This embodiment is advantageous if standardized profiles ate to be used to hold the device and good readability must be ensured. This embodiment is preferably suitable for terminals for patient monitoring, but may also be used for other medical devices that are used at the patient. This embodiment has a transport grip for carrying the terminal by the personnel, on the one hand, and it is also provided with recesses which make it possible to hang the terminal onto a circular tube or a standardized fastening rail. Such standardized profiles, namely, rails or circular tubes, are used in hospitals to hold medical devices. Wall rails are usually mounted at levels of 50 cm or 140 cm above floor level and have a standardized rectangular cross section. Circular tubes usually have an external diameter of 25 mm or 38 mm; they also occur on the head and foot sides of the hospital beds. To make possible the reliable and possibly variable holding of the terminal on such profiles, the carrying device is preferably provided with at least one strut, which has in its contour at least a first recess for receiving a horizontal fastening rail in a positive-locking manner and at least a second recess for placement on a horizontal circular tube.
At least two first recesses are preferably present, one of them being arranged such that the terminal is held essentially in the vertical alignment on the rail, while the other is arranged such that the terminal is held on the rail obliquely in relation to the vertical. This latter possibility of mounting the terminal obliquely, e.g., at an angle of about 30xc2x0 to about 60xc2x0, and especially about 45xc2x0, is especially advantageous if the transport display module is connected to the terminal and the oblique position of the terminal with the transport display module permits better readability of the display screen.
The strut, of which there is at least one, is preferably arranged obliquely on the top side of the housing of the terminal, so that, with the terminal standing upright, it projects beyond the base of the housing of the terminal in the projection into the horizontal plane. The recess for the vertical holding of the terminal is preferably arranged in the strut such that it is likewise located outside the base of the housing of the terminal in the projection into the horizontal plane.
The second recess for placement on a horizontal circular tube is preferably made in one piece with the strut such that it surrounds the circular tube to the extent that it holds the terminal in the vertical alignment on the circular tube when the housing of the terminal is supported at least at one additional point in the vertically hanging position.
These particularly preferred embodiments of the present invention with the carrying device explained make possible an especially versatile and convenient handling of the terminal and make it possible to arrange it in many variable ways, so that the position of the terminal can be optimally adapted to the conditions of the moment.
The various features of novelty which characterize the invention are pointed out with particularity in the claims annexed to and forming apart of this disclosure. For a better understanding of the invention, its operating advantages and specific objects attained by its uses, reference is made to the accompanying drawings and descriptive matter in which preferred embodiments of the invention are illustrated.